How do solar panels generate electricity?

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Solar Panels and Electricity
There are more than one type of solar panel, but nearly all work
by the same fundamental physics, and the very large majority of
commercially available panels are made from silicon (Si). I will
discuss this type here.

When silicon absorbs sunlight of a certain wavelength (shorter
than ~1100 nm), an electron is excited into a state which is
delocalized. In other words, this electron is now free to move
around the entire panel with very little barrier. However, in a
piece of plain old Si, there is no reason for it to go one
direction rather than another (and electricity is the net movement
of electrons in a single direction). In fact, the electron
will move around in the Si randomly, and then eventually
this electron will simply return to the ground, or unexcited, state
and release heat (just like any black object does in the hot
sun).

However, in the solar panel, there is something called a
junction, where two slightly different materials
meet. The two materials are actually both made of Si, but each one
is doped (has a tiny percentage of other atoms mixed in) with a
different element. The type of doping (the two types are called n-
and p-type) of the Si determines its electrical properties. When an
electron reaches this junction, it is either accelerated
across it, or repelled by it, depending on which direction
it is coming from (imagine water and a hill... water accelerates
down the hill, but can't go up it).

Now there is directionality to the system. You attach a wire to
each side of this junction, and when sunlight is absorbed,
the free electrons now only flow in one direction,
from one side of the junction to the other, driving a current
through the external circuit.

Electricity is just that -- electrons having a net flow in a single
direction along a wire.

That depends on the voltage of each panel and the amount of amperage each panel is able to generate. Lets use a 165W panel that is 24volts as an example. 3kva is equal to 30…00va, or 3000 Watts. 3000W/165W = 18.1818 panels In this example you would need 18+ panels, and some sunlight! ~Ahbee If i use 210 watts panel?

no solar panels can't run out of electricity. this is because the sun provides there electricity but if the sun was to blow up then the solar panels would not work..
no solar… panels can't run out of electricity. this is because the sun provides there electricity but if the sun was to blow up then the solar panels would not work.

They convert ray's from the sun into electric energy. The silicon or whatever semi-conductive material in the photovoltaic cell absorbs the energy from the photons emitted fro…m the sun pushing an electron into a outer group in the atomic configuration. When this happens it produces DC current that is then routed to your house through an inverter. it is obtained by the sun

Solar panels are not dependent upon the sun to shine from a cloud free sky. Solar Panels generates power on a cloudy day too. They just do not generate power at night. They …do generate more power the brighter it is though. Sunlight from a clear sky is the best.

Solar-thermal technologies are, more or less, a traditional electricity generating technology. They use the sun's heat to create steam to drive an electric generator. Paraboli…c trough systems, like those operating in southern California, use reflectors to concentrate sunlight to heat oil which in turn creates steam to drive a standard turbine.